


This Haunted House is Kind of Over The Top

by TintedPink



Series: 13 Days of Halloween 2018 [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 13 Days of Halloween, Alternate Universe - College/University, Don’t Judge, Getting Together, Haunted House, M/M, Post grad! AU, Pre-Slash, Sort Of, Tony builds a haunted house, being an ass is flirting, he only has some regrets, it works for them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 16:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16350209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TintedPink/pseuds/TintedPink
Summary: Newly graduated Tony Stark apparently has nothing better to do than build a ridiculously scary haunted house. At said haunted house he meets a super hot tall guy who doesn’t take any of his shit, and it’s amazing.





	This Haunted House is Kind of Over The Top

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1 of the [13 Days of Halloween Writing Challenge](https://iwritefanficsometimes.tumblr.com/post/179157044319/13-days-of-halloween-writing-challenge) that I made up myself. Day 2 will be a continuation, but I don’t guarantee any other continuations.

Once Upon a Time in This is a Good Idea Land, Tony decided that he wanted to make the scariest haunted house anyone had ever experienced. He didn’t know why he wanted to do it, he couldn’t conceive of any motivation for a mature young man with post grad education in engineering and physics to be working on a haunted house. It was juvenile, and it was a waste of what Pepper insisted was his very valuable time, and okay, maybe he just wanted to scare the pants off some people because it sounded like fun. Of course, making a Very Scary Haunted House quickly became a matter of personal achievement. Tony wanted to make the biggest, scariest haunted house anyone had ever conceived of... and he kind of had.

“Are those, are those paramedics?” Rhodey asked, looking at the not one, not two, but three ambulances parked near the entrance of the house.

“Um, yeah, kind of. See, we had some problems with panic attacks that people thought were heart attacks the first night. They have to sign a waiver to go in, and no one under 18 is allowed to even be in the parking lot...” Tony looked over the gutted and rebuilt structure of his childhood home. Really he’d left all the outside parts the same. He’d only changed the inside. The inside... was a problem.

“Tony, I think you went overboard.”

“Maybe,” Tony shrugged and waved at one of the anxious looking 20 somethings who was looking between Tony and the ambulances and the door like he wasn’t really sure going in was a good idea. “I had to do something to keep me busy. It’s better than drinking myself to death.”

“You could have been, I don’t know, making something that isn’t going to be obsolete in a month?”

“In a world of changing technology that’s everything playtpus.“ Tony put his sunglasses on and took Rhodey’s arm in his to lead him towards the house. “See, that’s the beauty of a haunted house, really. If the technology I put in it is obsolete in a month, that doesn’t matter, because so is the haunted house.”

“I can’t believe you did this to your house.”

“Yeah you can.”

Rhodey sighed, “Yeah, I can. Well, at least you’re having fun. The press certainly is.” Rhodey looked towards the news crews that were just off the property of Tony’s parents’ mansion, talking into their cameras about the phenomena of the Stark Raving Mad House, coined, unfortunately, by Tony.

“Oh the press!” Tony giggled and Rhodey raised a cautious eyebrow, “Boy do I have plans for them. They can’t go in until the last night, obviously, wouldn’t want to spoil the surprises, but...” He waved at one of the cameras that was obviously zooming in on them and then blew a kiss. “Boy do I have plans for them.”

“Please don’t get sued.” Came out of Rhodey’s mouth in a way that was far too easy and familiar for his liking.

“They can’t sue me if they sign a waiver.” He kept grinning as he took Rhodey around the side of the house to the staff entrance. “Besides, with as many of them that have tried to sneak in cameras, I’m not feeling all that merciful. Damn cheats.” He opened the side door, usually an entrance into an elaborate kitchen now being used for make-up and staging. It was noisy and chaotic and it just felt right. “Maybe I should do stuff like this full time. There’s good money in it, and I’m having a blast.”

“I’m sure Obediah would love that.” Rhodey rolled his eyes and let Tony lead him to the out of the way counter in the far corner where there was finger food fit for a king and smoothies for people with constricting costumes or masks that wouldn’t allow them to chew.

“You know, he hasn’t even been riding my ass about it, I’m kind of surprised. I expected a lot more resistance than I got.” Tony picked up a crustless half sandwhich and handed it to Rhodey before claiming one of the protein shakes that the chef was making one or two in advance.

“I can’t believe you have a Michelin star chef making sandwiches for a haunted house.”

Tony looked at Rhodey with raised eyebrows. “Can’t you?”

Rhodey sighed and Tony grinned, “Unfortunately, yes. Of course you would.”

“Of course I would. Nothing but the best for my favorite people.” He said it a loud enough that anyone in the vicinity probably heard him. He’d hand picked these people months ago, and he was paying them well. The set designers, painters, set builders, construction team, costume designers and actors had all been top of their field. Tony spared no expense, and it was paying off, despite Pepper’s insistence that it would be a money pit. He was pretty sure she’d only been telling him that because she wanted him to stop though, not because she thought it was true. If nothing else Tony opening up his house for people willing to buy tickets would have drawn in enough money on it’s own.

“Yeah, okay. So, when are you gonna show me your secret project, or is this all I get?” He asked, indicating the half dressed actors and costume designers and emergency crew.

“Don’t worry, Honeybear, I’m going to take your through myself once the crowds clear out a little.”

“You don’t close the doors until past 2am Tony.”

“What, can’t hang anymore, army man?”

“I’m in the Airforce.” Rhodey corrects him without much heat.

“Huh, I could have sworn you were an army man. Must be all the paint fumes I’ve been sniffing as we got the place ready. And the construction adhesive. And-“

“Don’t-“ Rhodey said, shoving the straw of Tony’s shake into his mouth, “finish that.”

“Don’t finish my protein shake? Okay, Rhodey, whatever you say.”

“Oh shut up.” Rhodey laughed and Tony smiled at him.

“If you two are done,” a woman dressed like a zombie, smiled, showing all her grotesque fake teeth that looked far too real, “Some of us want to eat before our four hour shift.”

“Okay,” Rhodey said, dragging Tony away from the table. “I don’t know what you’ve done, but it’s officially freaky.”

“That was all the costume designer. She’s wonderful, Janet! Wave and acknowledge your awesomeness to my Rhodey.” Tony called in the general vacinity of the costuming area, there were several stalls set up for people to change in and beside them was a rack of costumes and a slight woman about Tony’s age, with pins in her mouth that she was to fake skin and torn cloth delicately.

“I’m awesome, Tony’s Rhodey, thanks for acknowledging it.” She mumbled around the pins, never dropping one.

“You know, the more I look around the less I like this.”

“That’s the point.” Tony smiled, “Come on, let me show you the studio.”

Tony dragged Rhodey to what used to be the large butler’s pantry that had been converted into a control room. Several people were inside, watching the monitors and making the affects happen, each wearing a head set to communicate with the actors in their rooms. The lights were dimmed, but there was no trace of red corn syrup or costumes to be found. It was the least creepy room in the house.

Tony dragged Rhodey to the closest screen, the one with the dinning room setting and a tablet set with realistic looking cooked human remains. The bigger pieces were fake, but each of the three actors at the table, dressed to resemble Tony and his parents, were eating rather docily from plates of completely edible non-human food that looked like human food. They were getting paid extra.

“Um...” Rhodey said, but Tony smacked him in the arm lightly to shut him up. “There’s a new group coming in, shut up.”

Sure enough a new group of people, mostly college age students, were walking into the room, marveling at the scenery. The floor around the table was dripping in red corn syrup, and there were rusty pieces of metal tacked up against the wall and hidden under the floorboard to give the room a rusty feel. Someone got the bright idea to try and touch the food and “Howard,” roared, exposing fangs and red contacts. The guy jumped and Tony giggled.

“I can’t believe you really did this.”

“Yeah you can. Keep up the good work, Gary.” Tony said, clapping the tech on the shoulder as he led Rhodey back out.

“You got it boss.” Gary said, pushing a button and making a leg on one of the plates jerk.

——

“This haunted house is like the equivilent of a monster truck with six foot tires. It screams ‘I’m insecure in my masculinity and overcompensating.’” Stephen Strange, med student with no sense of adventure told his best friend, Christine.

“This haunted house is amazing and you need to quit being such a condescending jack ass. A lot of people put a lot of work into making this really cool. Respect that.”

“I will not respect one of the geniuses of our generation wasting his talents on...” Stephen looked at the plain house with a line of people all the way to the gate, “this.”

“Don’t say it like that. The staff has a twitter account and it’s hilarious. They all say he’s fun to work for, and since when is giving people jobs a bad thing?”

“Since those people are actors and he could be employing people with actual college degrees.”

“Wow, you are determined to suck the fun out of this for me, aren’t you?” Christine grabbed his arm and dragged him to the back of the line. “Well, be prepared to be amazed. Everyone who’s come out on the other side says it’s terrifying. I’m so excited!”

Stephen looked down at her, nothing short of condescension in his expression and she punched him in the chest. “Don’t be a dick. This is gonna be fun. Trust me.”

“I trust you. What I don’t trust is the ambulances parked outside.”

Christine looked at the ambulances and back at Stephen. “I bet he’s paying them just to be here. And I bet they’re not actors.”

“I bet you chicken out before we get to the door.”

“Oh, whatever. I’m so excited for this.”

“Do you remember that Halloween party we went to last year?”

“Stephen, shut up.” She glared at him and he raised his hands in mock surrender.

“Alright but all I’m saying is that frat boy in a bed sheet-“

“Shut. Up.”

“-made you jump into a lunch bowl and-“ Christine clapped a hand over his mouth. Stephen kept talking into her hand, smug at the attention they were drawing.

“You’re such a dick.” She shook her head and wiped his breath off her hand and on to his tee shirt.

“You’re the one who hangs out with me.”

“I’m starting to forget why.”

——

“Okay, I can’t wait any longer. We’re going in with the next group.” Tony said after his leg had been bouncing for nearly half an hour. The house was running smoothly, no one needed him, and Tony’s attention to Jan’s costuming of the second shifters was only going to last so long.

“Tony, the line is huge, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Rhodey asked as Tony dragged him out of his chair and Rhodey had to quickly set down his soda or risk it being dropped in Tony’s haste.

“I’m positive that it’s a good idea, unless you want me to get in a costume and go scare people, because running a haunted house is even less fun than running a company once all the planning is over. Okay, maybe not less fun, but comparably unfun.”

Rhodey sighed and just followed Tony out of the kitchen back around to the front of the house. He smiled at the ticket taker and she gestured for the tall man and the girl beside him to stop coming inside. “We’ll get you in the next group.” She promised with a kind smile Tony really admired.

“We’ve been waiting for hours, he can wait for ten more minutes.” The tall man with angry blue (maybe gray) eyes said, and Tony didn’t hide that he was checking him out.

“I built this, and I can go in whenever I want to. You can wait ten minutes.” Tony shot back even though the tall guy was obviously not talking to him.

“Tony,” Rhodey murmured, “maybe we should wait, alright?”

“No, I’m not going to wait. It’s my creation. They can wait.” Tony usually agreed when Rhodey tried to reign him in, he didn’t do it all that often so if he was trying to now it was because he was being a serious asshole, but he didn’t like tall guy’s attitude.And Tony kind of had a good track record with verbal sparring and someone ending up in his bed, but that was beside the point.

“That’s just like a one-percenter, entitled asshole much?” Tall guy glared, and Tony smirked.

“Yeah, pretty much, but listen, I’d rather be an entitled asshole than what, a burned out college student barely making ends meet being dragged here by hid girlfriend. No offense, you seem lovely,” he said to the woman standing beside tall guy.

“I am. And he’s gay.”

“Christine!” Stephen protested, shoving her and she laughed.

“What, he’s obviously into you, I was just doing you a favor.”

“I didn’t ask for your help, because you’re help is never as helpful as you think it is.” His glare focused back on Tony. “And that wasn’t an invitation.”

Tony tilted his head to one side, looking at tall guy up and down. “It should be. I’d accept it gladly.” He winked and tall guy glared, but Tony could see him blushing. Aggressive flirting was pretty much always the answer. “And I know how to show someone a good time.”

“I don’t really want to try and fit in a bed with your ego, thanks.”

“I like you.” Tony nodded, “You’re still not going in before us, but I like you. Maybe call me or something.” He pulled out a business card and handed it between two fingers to the girl standing beside him, knowing that tall guy wouldn’t take it.

He waved at tall guy flamboyantly and then turned to go into the house, dragging an exasperated Rhodey behind him. He was almost inside when something sharp and tiny hit him in the back of the head.

“What the hell?” He yelled, clutching the back of his head where his business card had just hit him. “Lovely woman, how could you betray me like this? I trusted you.” He looked over his shoulder at the two of them, and Christine was covering her mouth to giggle while Stephen just glared back at him.

“If I wanted your number, I would’ve asked for it.”

Tony was kind of taken aback. Sure, people hated Tony all the time, because of who he was, or because sometimes he could be an asshole, but tall guy with ridiculously beuatiful angry eyes was different somehow.

“Can I have yours then?” Tony asked, and it was Stephen’s turn to be taken aback.

“They’re soulmates, right? Like, they’re obviously soulmates?” Christine asked Rhodey who was just watching them both flabbergasted.

“Probably. You guys go ahead, we’ll wait.” He said pointedly, holding Tony’s arm and keeping him from protesting.

“How evil is it that I want them to go in together? It’d be a great bonding moment.” Christine grinned, and Rhodey raised an eyebrow at her.

“They’d kill each other.”

“Stephen doesn’t bite.” Christine waved a hand dismissively.

“I’m right here, you know. I haven’t gone anywhere,” he glared and she scoffed.

“Oh trust me, I know. The indignation rolling off of you is palpable. I can taste it it like sexual frustration in the back of my throat.”

Stephen gaped at her and Tony smirked, but Rhodey couldn’t just let this Stephen guy take all the blows. “I wouldn’t look so smug Tones, your thirst just as bad. You’d think he threw a love potion at you and not your own business card.”

“I was really getting that vibe from him.” Christine nodded, pushing Stephen towards the door. “You want to go into the haunted house so bad, do it with him. Now.”

“No, I’m not going to.”

“What, are you scared?” Tony asked, seeing a chance and jumping at it. He’d take Rhodey through on the next round, but he really, really, really wanted to screw with Stephen. And maybe just screw him. Maybe at the same time. That sounded great...

“I’m not scared of some cheesy animatronics and overpaid actors.”

Tony sucked in a breath, and Rhodey looked instantly worried. “Cheesy animatronics? No, these are top of the line animatronics that I designed myself.” The sharpness to Tony’s grin made even Christine, who didn’t know Tony from Adam, a little worried.

“Um, maybe-“

“Fine.” Stephen cut her off. “Let’s see how scary your little overcompensation project really is.”

“Please, lead the way.” Tony said, gesturing for Stephen to go inside.

“With pleasure.” He glared and went inside. Tony followed quickly behind and Christine, Rhodey and the ticket woman all looked at each other uneasily.

“This isn’t going to end well, is it?” Christine asked.

“Challenging Tony’s tech is like insulting his honor.” Rhodey confirmed and Christine nodded.

“Alright, well, now we wait.”

“Actually, I was going to go watch them from the control room. This is going to be too good to miss.”

“Can I come with?” She asked, not even caring about spoiling the surprise inside the house. She cared far more about what Stephen was doing with Tony freaking Stark.

“Be my guest.” Rhodey said, going back the way he and Tony had come.

——

Twenty five minutes later Stephen was sweating, Tony’s heart was racing, and they were both having trouble breathing as they filed out of the last room into what used to be the garage that had been converted into a cool down room of sorts complete with soft couches and snacks

“That haunted house is over the top.”

“I see that now. That was my first time going through it with the staff. They make it much scarier.” Tony took a bottle of water and an apple, handing the water to Stephen and taking a bite out of the deep red apple. It was a suggestion of Pepper’s to distract anyone who may be too traumatized. Tony had thought maybe it had been overkill, but now he understood her reasoning. He was a master of horror, apparently. Who knew?

“That room where the family was eating people, it smelled like blood...”

“Rust.” Tony corrected, “Similar, but not quite the same. The visual of the blood made your brain make the association though. Yeah.”

“And the... that woman she knew our names.”

“That... I didn’t do.” Tony said, taking another bite of his apple.

“I still think you’re overcompensating for something.”

“I’m trying to fill the hole in my heart with horrifying imagery, you caught me.” Tony smiled, but it was shaky at best.

“Well, you’re doing a damn good job.”

“Yeah, I know. Maybe too good.”

“Definitely too good.” Stephen pulled out a pen, “If you ever wanna talk about that,” he grabbed Tony’s wrist and wrote his number on Tony’s arm. He was attractive, creative and intelligent, and he kept up with Stephen like only Christine ever seemed to, and he wasn’t a straight woman, so... He was pretty sure he was making the right choice. He looked up at Tony between his eyelashes as he finished, “this is my number.”

Tony breathed in evenly to hide the fact that he wanted to screech. “Yeah, I’ll do that.” He said, and Stephen nodded, smiling and then he left. Tony stared down at his wrist, almost not believing what he was seeing, but the elegant scrawl had to belong to the med student, and unless it was a fake number... Tony sighed a little because he was happy and no one was watching. Maybe making a haunted house hadn’t been stupidest thing he’d ever done. Maybe it had served a very important purpose in his life after all. Take that Pepper.

——

Stephen was smiling tentatively as he approached Christine at the front of the house. “Well that looks like a good sign,” she said, “I can’t remember the last time I saw your smile when it wasn’t related to showing someone up.”

“Who says I didn’t show him up?” Stephen asked, immediately defensive, and Christine chuckled.

“That is not your ‘I just showed someone up’ look. Tell me what happened.” She demanded, and Stephen shook his head, looking at her and then at the line, squinting at it, “Weren’t you supposed to be inside already?”

“I wanted to see how it went!” Her voice was just a bit too strained for Stephen to believe her.

“Where’s that guy, the one who was with Tony.”

“He wen’t to meet him in the staging room. Said that was probably where he’d go when he came out.”

Stephen looked at her suspiciously. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

He glared at her until she finally sighed, looking down at her feet. “Okay, we went to the control room to watch you guys go through. No, don’t look like that! You guys were so cute!”

“You spied on me.”

“It wasn’t spy... It was just... creative intervention.”

“You told them my name!”

She bit her lower lip, “Yeah, I did.”

“You’re a piece of work.”

“You have him your number.”

“This, this is spying.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Stop being so-“

His phone pinged and she sqeaked, covering her mouth with her hand. “Is it him? It’s him isn’t it! I bet it’s him.”

“Shut up, it’s not...”

It was Tony.

Unknown number: Hey, it’s Tony. I kind of can’t shake this stupid house. Want to go get a coffee or something? My treat.

Stephen stared down at his phone for a second, giving Christine plenty of time to peer over his shoulder to look at the text.

“Say yes.” She whispered, and Stephen... did.

Stephen: Yeah sure, you know May’s?

Unknown Number: Hell yeah I know May’s it’s only the best coffee on the east coast. You’ve got good taste.

Stephen: I’m aware.

Unknown number: Are you still at the house? I can drive us down there.

Stephen: Yeah, that works. See you in a few?

Unknown number: Oh, you’ll see me alright

Stephen sighed, exasperated, but he couldn’t hide the tiny smile from Christine, who was jumping up and down on the porch of the ridiculously large house. “I told you you were soul mates!”

“Shut up, Christine.”

“I’m telling this story at your wedding.”

**Author's Note:**

> Posted on Tumblr [here](https://iwritefanficsometimes.tumblr.com/post/179229913724/13-days-of-halloween-day-1-this-haunted-house-is).  
> [Follow me](https://iwritefanficsometimes.tumblr.com) for the rest of the 13 Days of Halloween! (Because 31 days was just too much for me.)


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